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My stomach lurches as the memory resurfaces. He brought me here.

Panic claws at my chest, but I shove it down. I can’t afford to spiral. My eyes dart around the room, searching for anything useful, but it’s empty. My clothes are rumpled, dust clinging to the hems of my sweatpants like I was dragged through a filthy hallway.

Why would Kane do this? How did he know Halle’s case was dropped? And why the hell would he drug me?

Theories clumsily race through my mind, each one worse than the last. I bite down hard on the rising dread. I’m supposed to meet Key’s contact tonight. If I don’t show, Rowan will think I bailed. He’ll think I betrayed him—just like last time. We were finally starting to trust each other and now…

I stop my train of thought. I need to get out of here first, and then I can worry about Rowan.

“Hey!” I shout, my voice cracking in the empty space. “Kane!”

Silence.

The door remains shut and no light spills in from the hallway. I tug harder at the restraints, the rope grinding against my wrists, but the knot is tight. It doesn’t budge no matter how hard I pull.

“Kane!” I try again. “Get me out of here!”

A few seconds later, I hear a muffled shuffle from the other side of the door and a light flicker. My heart jumps as the handle turns. Kane steps inside, his face grim and pale, still dressed in jeans and jacket from earlier.

“Alex,” he starts, his voice low.

I breathe heavily. “What the fuck is going on? Why am I here?”

His jaw tightens. “Jesus, Alex,” he mutters, stepping further into the room. He keeps his voice calm, but there’s an edge to it. “I tried to help you.”

“Help me?” I repeat, jerking against the ropes. “You kidnapped me!”

He shakes his head, running a hand through his hair. “You weren’t supposed to make this complicated,” he says. “All you had to do was find out who’s pushing Haze and give me a name. That’s it. Couldn’t you just stick to the plan?”

The blood drains from my face. My body slackens against the chair, the weight of realization pressing down. “Those emails…” I trail. “It was you.”

He doesn’t respond immediately, but he averts his gaze, and that’s enough to confirm my suspicions.

“Why?”

This time, he gives a dry laugh, his face twisting with something dark. “You have to know it’s nothing personal. There are powerful people in Senna who are very interested in Haze—people with deep pockets. They all wanted Professor Hawthorne’s research, but she never budged.” He leans in slightly. “And then she turned up dead. Someone stole her research and murdered her.”

I shake my head, trying to process his words. “But why me? Why drag Halle into it? We have nothing to do with this.”

His lips press into a thin line. “Because you were desperate to save her. You’d do anything for her, and I needed someone like you with an incentive to keep digging.”

The knot in my stomach tightens, a cold sweat slicking my skin. “You could’ve done it yourself.”

“Oh, I was,” he says, his tone almost casual. “But like I said, you had the right motivation. I’ll admit, though, I didn’t expect you to drag Rowan Vasilyev into it. That was … creative.”

I’m shaking my head before he’s done. This is all so wrong.

“You said many people are after her research. Are you working for one of them?”

Kane tilts his head, and I almost don’t recognise him. This isn’t the man I’ve known for years, the man I trusted to have my back, the man who saw me in the OCU after my undercover assignment and chose me for his team. The man whose children I buy Christmas presents for every year. But maybe he’s always been like this. Maybe Kane has been dirty all along and I never realised it.

He wouldn’t be the first dirty cop in the OCU, and he wouldn’t be the last.

“Who I’m working for isn’t really important. What’s important is that we’re running out of time, and I need you to tell me what you know.”

“I’ve told you everything.” My voice comes out hollow.

He narrows his eyes, his jaw tightening. “Rowan must have told you something.”